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Trade Wars
In Charts: How the U.S. Became the World’s Greatest Energy Exporter
The shale-drilling boom that began two decades ago not only flooded U.S. markets with oil and gas, it transformed the country into the world’s largest energy exporter. From crude oil and liquefied natural gas, or LNG, to other products such as propane and wood pellets, the flow of fuel from U.S. ports has put a big dent in the national trade deficit and helped to stabilize overseas markets during war and other periods of scarcity.
Energy-industry analysts expect export volumes—already at or near records for various products—to notch new highs. “The question arises as to how long the U.S. can maintain this high pace of exports without jeopardizing its own security of supply,” Commerzbank analyst Norman Liebke wrote in a note to clients. One limiting factor will be the availability of export infrastructure, such as the multibillion-dollar terminals that chill natural gas to minus 260 degrees Fahrenheit to make it a liquid suitable for ocean transport.
Read more at The WSJ
Boeing’s New Order Bookings Surge In April
Boeing booked 135 net new orders in April, nearly matching its total in the first three months of the year, the company said on Tuesday. Through the first four months of the year, Boeing has booked 284 new orders after adjusting for cancellations and conversions. That is the highest total for that period since 2014. However, that trails European rival Airbus, which has booked 405 orders after cancellations and conversions through April 30. Airbus delivered 67 jets last month.
Boeing delivered 47 jetliners in April, one more than the previous month.
Deliveries are when customers hand over most of the cash for a new airplane, and so are closely tracked by investors. Last month’s deliveries included 34 737 Max jets and six 787s. April’s orders included 57 737 Max jets and 51 787s, mostly from unidentified customers. They also included 28 777X orders from undisclosed customers. Boeing continues working to certify the long-delayed jetliner.
Read more at CNBC
Agentic AI Could Make Robots Affordable for Small Manufacturers
We’re nearly at the end of the AI hype cycle, when suggestions for how to leverage the technology become less flashy and more realistic. Like, for instance, the new agentic AI technology named Eigen, that Siemens revealed at this year’s Hannover Messe automation fair. Siemens pitches Eigen (a pun as the word means own in German but phonetically sounds like AI gen) as a brand-agnostic AI agent that can replace manual coding or programming for programmable logic controllers (PLC), distributed control systems (DCS) and robotics applications, updating code or instructions to reflect new priorities and goals.
“There’s a kind of new age of automation arising, because [with AI assistance to program robots and PLCs] means you could suddenly automate much smaller lot sizes on a good return of investment,” says Rainer Brehm, CEO of Siemens’ automation business. Eigen obviously has yet to prove itself in the wild, and the jury is still out on agentic AI as a whole. But what Siemens means to accomplish with Eigen feels comparatively banal compared to some of the science-fiction-inspired automation fantasies fueled by AI. Eigen feels down-to-earth and relatively simple.
Read more at Industry Week
Ford Cracks Down On Suppliers, Barring Some From New Contracts Over Quality Issues, Cost
Ford is tightening the screws on some of its parts suppliers, telling them they will be cut off from new contracts unless they hit tougher cost and quality benchmarks. The shift marks a sharper enforcement approach across the automaker's supply chain as it hunts for extra margin and tries to avoid the production snags that have dented profits in recent quarters. According to Crain's Detroit Business, company buyers have been warned that suppliers who consistently miss quality targets or fall short of new cost expectations could be ruled ineligible for fresh contract awards.
Sources cited by Crain's say Ford is not rewriting the rulebook so much as cracking down on existing requirements and making cost and quality a hard gate for any new business. The stricter rules raise the stakes for smaller tiered suppliers that rely heavily on Ford awards to keep their operations afloat. Losing eligibility for new work could translate into meaningful revenue hits or pressure to consolidate with rivals. Ford has said it is reorganizing its product-creation and industrialization functions to target "quality and cost" improvements across the lineup, a shift the company has framed as essential to meeting profit goals while stabilizing deliveries.
Read more at Hoodline
OpenAI Chief Sam Altman Denies Betraying Elon Musk, Defends For-Profit Push At Trial
OpenAI Chief Executive Sam Altman on Tuesday rejected Elon Musk's claim that he betrayed the ChatGPT maker's founding mission to serve the public good, and said it was Musk who was interested in seizing control of OpenAI and making money from it. In an August 2024 lawsuit, Musk accused Altman and OpenAI of persuading him into giving $38 million, only to see the nonprofit abandon its mission to benefit humanity and instead become a for-profit corporation.
Under questioning from his lawyer in the Oakland, California, federal court, Altman denied Musk's contention that he and OpenAI President Greg Brockman, who is also a defendant, tried to "steal a charity." Altman said, "it feels difficult to even wrap my head around that framing," and that he hoped that "as OpenAI continues to do well, the nonprofit will do even better." During a contentious cross-examination, Musk's lawyer Steven Molo challenged Altman's honesty. He cited testimony from a former OpenAI board member that Altman fostered a "toxic culture of lying," and from seven former OpenAI officials who said Altman wasn't trustworthy.
Read more at Reuters
GM Cuts 500-600 IT Jobs
General Motors is implementing a round of layoffs targeting 500 to 600 salaried workers in information technology roles, though specific totals are not known. The automaker acknowledged the job cuts following several published reports, but it has not connected the decision to its strategic goal. “GM is transforming its Information Technology organization to better position the company for the future,” it stated by email. “As part of that work, we have made the difficult decision to eliminate certain roles globally. We are grateful for the contributions of the employees affected and are committed to supporting them through this transition.”
Some workers affected by the cuts alleged that GM has encouraged its programmers and data analysts to adopt artificial intelligence in their projects and workflows, implying the IT job cuts will mean a wider reliance on AI to complete data functions. While the job cuts are reported to be “global” in scope, affected employees are concentrated at the GM Technical Center in Warren, Mich., and the IT Innovation Center Austin, Tex.
Read more at American Machinist
Hannover Messe Trade Show Highlights Humanoid Robots (Slide Show)
Humanoid robots were everywhere at Hannover Messe 2026. The show floor space was compacted and had fewer booths and attendees than at past shows, according to veteran attendees of the fair. This just meant it was possible to walk the entire floor and ask about every humanoid robot we could find. IndustryWeek wanted to know what made one model different from the others? How do manufacturers decide which humanoid robot model to deploy?
Industry Week presents fourteen humanoid robots they "met" at the show and tried to answer the all-important question: Why is your robot special? According to Industry Week “we didn't get too many answers. Take that for what you will.”
Read More at Industry Week
Nippon Steel FY2025 Profit Plunges 95%
Nippon Steel, Japan’s biggest steelmaker, posted a net profit of 17.2 billion yen ($109 million) for its fiscal year that ended March 31, 2026. That was down 95% from a year ago as the company navigated weak market conditions and one-off losses following the U.S. Steel acquisition last summer.Revenue was 10 trillion yen ($63.4 billion) during the period, up 15.7% from a year ago. The growth came mostly from its steelmaking and steel fabrication division as Nippon Steel advanced its expansion and production strategies in the United States, Europe, India and Thailand.
Despite an underlying business loss of 5.6 billion yen ($35.5 million) for the year, U.S. Steel is expected to eventually be a profit driver for Nippon Steel. Nippon Steel said U.S. demand is stable as steel exports and imports decline. U.S. Steel has a number of projects underway, including the relining of a blast furnace and a hot strip mill upgrade at Gary Works, as well as the installation of a new slag recycler at Mon Valley Works and a new premium thread line at Fairfield Works.
Read more at Manufacturing Dive
OPEC Sees Slower Demand Growth This Year As Production Falls More Than 30% On Hormuz Closure
Oil production among OPEC members fell further in April and is down more than 30% since the start of the Iran war in late February, the cartel said in its latest monthly update on Wednesday. OPEC also lowered its demand growth forecast for 2026 to around 1.2 million barrels per day, down from about 1.4 million bpd previously. Global demand is facing constraints because supply from the Persian Gulf has been effectively cut off by Iran’s blockade of the Strait of the Hormuz.
Oil production among OPEC members fell further in April and is down more than 30% since the start of the Iran war in late February, the cartel said in its latest monthly update on Wednesday. OPEC also lowered its demand growth forecast for 2026 to around 1.2 million barrels per day, down from about 1.4 million bpd previously. Global demand is facing constraints because supply from the Persian Gulf has been effectively cut off by Iran’s blockade of the Strait of the Hormuz.
Read more at CNBC
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